Stranger Than Usual
by Asphodel Chestnut
Summary: When a new family moves in across the road from the Parker-Nichols residents, their world is about to get a little stranger than usual. Meet the Evans, who are the new ditzy, slightly hysteric family who tries to compete with the Parker-Nichols in any way possible.
1. An Unexpected Arrival

**Chapter 1: An Unexpected Arrival**

* * *

Josh Nichols sighed and placed his pen back down on the desk before him, for where he was studying for the finals in English tomorrow afternoon. It was a huge exam and counted for an enormous percentage of their final grade. He stared straight ahead through the window that showed a perfect view of the street across the road. He kept looking through the window for a good three minutes before he decided his eyes weren't deceiving him.

There was something in the Peterson's driveway.

It was a truck, and a big one at that.

It was in the driveway; and Josh could see people walking in and out of the house, carrying large albeit heavy boxes in their arms along with other pieces of furniture and personal items.

Josh was very confused. What happened to their old neighbours, the Petersons? They were nice, quiet and friendly. So what made them move from their neighbourhood?

"Hey, Josh!"

And Josh's question was answered.

Drake Parker, his stepbrother, came barging into their shared room and threw his bag on Josh's bed, like he did all the time. He knew it annoyed Josh, but he didn't care about that now.

"What? Can't you see I'm trying to do something important?" Josh said, gesturing to his homework that still lay untouched in front of him.

"But this is important too!" Drake protested. It really was. He had just met possibly the coolest guy he could ever meet—his name was Scott Evans. He was funny, good-looking (not in that way) and had his own band _and _was the lead guitarist and vocalist, just like Drake was.

Josh sighed and stood up, forgetting his homework completely. "Then what is it?" he said with his arms folded. He really needed to study for their English test tomorrow. But as long as Drake kept bugging him—he knew there was no way.

"We have new neighbours!" Drake announced happily. He flopped down on the couch and grabbed the TV remote and it automatically turned onto American Celebrities Under Water, something Drake enjoyed watching ever since his mum remarried.

_So I _was _right, _Josh thought. He uncrossed his arms, and, homework still forgotten—sat down on the couch next to Drake.

"Really? Have you met them?" Josh interrogated his brother.

Drake nodded. "Yeah. They're really cool, in fact. Well, at least, Scott is. His brother is really geeky and nerdy and all he cares about is… _school_," Drake said the word 'school' while he shivered and screwed up his face.

Josh just gave him a look that read: _Really? _

* * *

**A/N: I found this story, which was written like, three or four months ago and I thought you might enjoy it. I definitely had fun writing it. And just a note, in this story Megan is 12 and Drake and Josh are both 15. **


	2. We Meet The Evans!

**Chapter 2: We Meet The Evans!**

* * *

Megan Parker woke up the next morning ten minutes before her alarm went off. She groaned and rolled over in her bed, and saw the clock read _6:50am_. Too early… she thought. Megan sighed and closed her eyes, trying to enjoy what little time she had left before she had to wake up and get ready for school. She lay there in perfect silence, her eyes closed and the only sound in her room was her silent breathing.

_You've got mail! You've got mail!_

The automated voice of her computer woke Megan with a start. Her eyes flew open and she shot up, all thoughts about her being tired completely wiped from her head as she slowly climbed out of bed. Mail? How could she possibly have mail? It was nearly seven in the morning!

Yawning, Megan sat down in front of her laptop and clicked on the little mail icon on her desktop. Immediately, the window that showed her inbox expanded and showed she had 1 unread message. Megan clicked on the new email and her eyes widened.

_Dear Megan, _she read. _Good morning! I'm so sorry if I woke you up with this email, but I've been searching for a while and came across your email address online—_what a creep, Megan thought—_but don't worry! I'm not some weirdo who stalks young children online—_Megan could practically hear this person's laugh on the other end—_I'm your new neighbour Melanie Evans, and I am twelve years old too! I was just wondering if you would like to walk to school together today, as I am new and I don't really know my way around your neighbourhood yet, if it'd be okay, could you meet me outside your house at 7am? I would like to get to school early for my first day. See you soon!_

_Yours truly, Melanie._

Megan blinked. She was stunned. She had several questions floating through her head at the moment, but only one stood out to her: Who was this Melanie Evans?

Well, she thought while glancing at her clock, if she hurried, she would be able to find out…

* * *

When Drake and Josh had gotten dressed and ready for school, they both headed out the door, Drake with the car keys in his hand and guitar case in the other. He had practise after school on Mondays with his band.

Before Drake could even back out of the driveway, the car door to the rear opened and a head popped into Drake's rear view mirror. Drake jumped and turned around, so did Josh.

"Uh… hi?" Drake said uncertainly to the boy.

The boy just stared back, grinning. "Hey!" he said brightly.

"If you don't mind my asking, who are you?" Josh said from his seat beside Drake. The boy laughed.

"Oh, I'm so sorry… allow me to introduce myself, I'm Scott Evans. Your new neighbour across the road. My brother—" Scott was cut off.

"—Is right here and I am Liam Evans!" said another voice from behind Josh's seat. Another boy, who was completely identical to Scott but wearing different clothes, popped into view on the other side of Drake's car.

Drake's expression of confusion change to one of acknowledgement. "Oh! Scott! Hey, do you guys want a ride? We were just about to leave," Drake said.

Scott nodded. "Sure, man. That'd be great! You don't mind my brother tagging along, do you?" he asked, gesturing to his twin brother Liam.

Liam looked really geeky and nerdy in Drake's opinion. Much like Josh, in fact. With his glasses, braces and sweater vest. To top it off, he was carrying an Advanced Chemistry textbook in his arms, as well.

Scott however, looked completely different. He had on a standard blue t-shirt, a leather jacket and washed-down jeans with converses. He was carrying a basketball under his right arm, and his backpack was unzipped and things were hanging over the edge. Minus the braces and glasses, he looked… cool. There was no other way to describe him.

"No problem," Josh finally turned around to get a good look at both boys. He noticed that Scott was more like Drake and Liam was more like… him.

"Hey," Josh greeted Liam. "I'm Josh. What's your name?"

Liam grinned, showing off his metal teeth and said, "Liam. Advanced Chemistry, Biology, Physics, 3 Unit Math, Advanced English and Phys Ed Pass-Fail."

Josh grinned. "Me too!"

"Awww, would you look at that? Geek love," Drake snorted at Scott's comment. Liam shot Scott a look, as did Josh with Drake.

With that, both twins climbed into the back of the car and Drake backed out of the driveway.

* * *

Megan new something was up. From the minute she first met Melanie Evans, she knew there was something wrong in that girls' head. The way Melanie had known her email address, the way she had greeted Megan's friends at school, and the way they ditched her to sit with Melanie at lunchtime.

Megan sniffed the air.

There was something definitely in it.

Conspiracy? No.

More like…

…Rivalry. Yes. That's what it definitely was. Well, Megan thought as she walked over to her friends and Melanie (she wasn't about to call Melanie her friend _just _yet) was eating near the fountain outside like they always did at lunchtime.

"Hey Megan!" Melanie said brightly as Megan sat down next to her (there was no other spot available).

Megan had decided on a course of action.

The five stages to determine if one was evil or not.

Stage one: A close-up analysis of the undetermined suspect. Was the person eager to talk to you? Did they/he/she ask a lot of questions about your past/present/future? Do they do anything in their power to stay with or near you 24/7?

Those were the questions Megan had yet to answer.

So, Megan smiled and started to talk to Melanie.

Stage one was well and truly underway.

* * *

**A/N: And there's chapter 2! I hope you enjoyed! Please review! **


	3. A Little Bit Confused

**Chapter 3: A Little Bit Confused**

* * *

The day Kevin Evans started working on Channel 10 news weather, was the first day of Hell, in Walter's opinion. He had done everything in his will and power to be in the running for the best hair award they always give out at the end of the year, and here—his new arch nemesis stood before him, with a charming smile on his face as people crowded around him, commenting on how smooth and shiny his hair was!

Sally Georges, the assistant Weather-lady who worked alongside Walter, had always gotten along great with him. But, here she was, swooning over Kevin as if he was the next Bruce Winchell or something!

That was enough Walter had had to see to determine that the Evans' were pure evil.

* * *

Audrey was calmly watering her soon-to-be tulips when she heard a soft noise, much like a whimper—right beside her. She set her gardening tools down and looked over her shoulder. A small dog, which looked like a half-rat as much as anything (Audrey had never really taken a liking to dogs, and was always a cat person in the end) looking up at her with its big brown eyes and whimper of a face.

Before Audrey could do or say anything else, the dog charged for her garden where she was growing her tulips, daises and lilies, and started digging the ground up eagerly and sniffing the ground for some food.

"Stop it," she cried to the animal helplessly. Audrey reached out and pulled the dog back off the soil, its tail wagging madly, and she saw a name tag hanging off the dogs' collar.

_The Evans' beloved Angel_, it read. Oh, it was anything _but _that, Audrey thought as she looked up to find Mrs Evans calmly watering her garden full of tulips, lilies and daisies, not seeming to notice Audrey or her missing dog.

Audrey picked up the dog underneath her right arm and walked across the road to have a little talk with her new neighbour, Jamie Evans.

* * *

Megan Parker slammed the door of her bedroom, very frustrated indeed. She threw her schoolbag down on her bed and went straight for her computer, which was still open and already up and running, like it always was. Today was the worst day in Megan's life.

First, Melanie had stolen all of Megan's friends and completely ignored her during class, even though she personally asked the teacher to sit next to Megan during all their classes together (which was every class, sadly) and talked to Megan's friends excitedly about boys and clothes, both of which topics Megan found truly horrid.

She wasn't as much of a tomboy as she was a girly girl.

She was in the middle.

Melanie was a full on girly-girl, it turned out. And it sickened Megan, because Melanie's backpack was pink, her nails were painted pink, her shirt was pink, basically everything she had was pink (beside from her lunch) and that was one reason why Megan hated Melanie Evans.

The Evans was just pure evil, and Megan knew it.

School had now turned into Hell, thanks to Melanie. She sweet talked the teachers, sucked up to the popular crowd at school, and even got herself out of trouble with her irritating 'I'm sorry, but not really' smile that Megan was oh-so used to by now.

The first website Megan went to was , which was this website the kids at her school used to chat to each other online. It showed everything about anybody and was easily accessible by just signing in and you had all their personal information right before your eyes.

It was too easy. All Megan really had to do was become 'friends' with Melanie, which she already had, and click on her name and a full bio of Melanie's life appeared right before Megan's devious little eyes.

She scrolled through Melanie's profile and began to read.

_Name: Melanie Anne Evans_

_Birthday: 19th July 1999_

_Age: 12_

_Eye colour: Blue_

_Status: Innocent, sweet and fun!_

_Bio: Hi! I'm Melanie, as you already know! I guess you're reading this because you want to know a little more about me: Well, first off, I'm a sucker for stuffed kittens, never really liked dogs that much. I have a whole bunch of em' sitting on my bed! I also have two older twin brothers (Liam and Scott) who are really cool and slightly geeky. I also go to Belleview High School…._

Megan ignored the last part and she felt herself smile.

So she's a sucker for stuffed kittens, huh?

Well then. Megan will just have to do something about that, won't she?

* * *

Drake rose from his chair, announcing he had to go to the bathroom. He left his guitar case open, as he was trying to tune it before the show started. He was playing at the premier, where Josh was currently working that evening. Liam, Scott's geeky twin brother was working with Josh too, it turned out.

He had the same shifts as Josh and everything.

Drake had to admit that that was slightly weird… or it could be just coincidence.

When Drake returned, he checked his watch and found his band was due to start playing in half an hour. Trevor and the rest of the guys had already arrived and were setting up, tuning their instruments getting ready to perform. Drake shut the lid of his guitar case shut and said goodbye to Scott, who was calmly sitting in the seat next to where Drake was a moment ago with his guitar out, drinking Diet Cola.

"Hey," Trevor greeted Drake as he reached the stage, where people were already starting to gather round at, even though there was still a good twenty minutes till the show actually started.

"Hi," Drake greeted his friend. "You ready?"

Trevor nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be. You?"

Drake shrugged. He had performed so many times by now that he had gotten used to it, and was no longer afraid of performing in front of large crowds. "Sure. I just have to tune my guitar."

Trevor rolled his eyes. "Of course," he said, and went back to his own instrument.

Drake ignored Trevor and opened his guitar case.

He immediately knew something was wrong with his guitar. It looked funny; it _smelled _funny, strangely like… like… Diet Cola.

Oh no, Drake picked up his guitar and found somebody had poured Diet Cola all over it, making it sound slightly edgy as he strummed the strings to make sure it would still be play-able for the show.

**Who** would pour Diet Cola all over his guitar right before his performance? It was almost as if somebody was out to get him…

His eyes looked up and landed on… oh _no_.

Scott.

* * *

Josh continued wiping the tables of the premier as he listened to Drake's band play. They were getting really good and were attracting a lot of outside attention.

He suddenly glanced up and heard laughing.

He saw Liam laughing with Helen, Josh's boss, who he was still trying to get noticed, was talking to Liam? The new guy on the block?

Unbelievable…

* * *

When dinner came around later that night, Walter asked all cheerily, "So. How was everyone's day?"

Audrey, Megan, Drake and Josh just turned and gave him a look.

"What?" Walter said. "Was it something I said?"

Megan rolled her eyes and went back to her dinner.

* * *

**A/N: So what do you think of it so far? Love it? Hate it? Please leave me your thoughts down below! **


	4. What's Going On?

**Chapter 4: What's Going On? **

* * *

"Can you believe that guy?" Josh was saying to his friend Mindy Crenshaw after their AP Physics class later that afternoon. Since Mindy and Josh had learned to get along and put their differences aside, they had become really good friends. Well, as good as you can get being the two smartest people in the class.

"I know, he's smarter than _me_!" she said indignantly. "And I'm _clearly _the smartest person in the whole class," she added.

Josh just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and no one is smarter than _us_," he said, putting the emphasis on the word _us_.

Just then, Josh felt himself being pushed into the lockers beside him as somebody walked past. He had dropped the book he was holding in his arms so he bent down to pick it up.

"Oops, sorry there. I guess that's what you feel like when you're not _in control _anymore," laughed Liam. Mindy held out her hand to help Josh up, glaring at Liam as he laughed in his geeky way.

"...What was that about?" Mindy asked as she watched Liam walk away, snorting in his laughter.

Josh ran a hand through his hair and shrugged, accepting the book back from Mindy. "I have no clue..."

* * *

Drake was putting his books away in his bag at the end of another long school day. He shoved the last of his things in his backpack and zipped it up. As he was locking his locker, he looked down the end of the hall to see his best friend Trevor and fellow band member, waving and smiling at him.

Drake grinned, and waved back. Trevor started walking towards him, as did Drake.

"Hi, Trev-" Drake's sentence faltered, as Trevor walked right past him. Confused, Drake turned around to see Scott giving Trevor a hi-five as he greeted him.

Drake's mouth opened as he could not believe what he saw. He watched them as Trevor swung his arm round Scott's shoulders and the two headed off together, laughing.

Just as the two were about to go around the corner at the end of the hall, Drake noticed Scott glance over his shoulder and wink at Drake before he disappeared.

Drake glared, slammed his locker shut and stormed off, desperate to talk to his brother.

* * *

If her jaw wasn't attached to her head, she could've sworn it would drop to the ground. Megan stood there, stunned at what she saw before her.

Melanie, at _her _oboe class?

Megan watched as she flawlessly played the songs Megan was currently still trying to learn, and how everybody applauded her at her fantastic oboe skills. Megan couldn't believe it.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed that! It is quite short, so forgive me for that :) But anyway, please tell me what you think of my new chapter! **


End file.
